What HDZero Costs

Same frame class, same pack, same Gemfan 1219 3-blade props. The only meaningful difference between these two builds is the video system and motor spec — and the digital build gives up a third of its flight time for the picture.

The current delta is bigger than the weight delta alone predicts — the HDZero VTX draws its own supply on top of what the heavier build asks from the motors. Full write-up: HDZero vs analog — what video weight costs in flight time.

Air65 Analog — Full Record

Onboard current sensor reads about 20% cold out of the box — raw OSD showed 217 mAh for a run that delivered roughly 270. Correction factor 1.24, anchored to a full discharge. Slow cruise pace throughout. Raw record: air65-analog-vci0702-30k.json. Pending: hover run, repeat cruise, rest-voltage logging, top speed in calm air.

Mobula6 2024 HDZero — Full Record

Opposite sensor problem to the Air65 — this one reads about 25% hot. Raw OSD claimed 340 mAh from a 300 mAh pack; correction factor 0.79. OSD also showed 4.15 V at plug-in against a true 4.35 (connector drop plus ADC offset). Slow cruise pace. Raw record: mobula6-2024-hdzero-se0702-28k.json. Pending: hover run, repeat cruise, rest-voltage logging, top speed in calm air. Build write-up: 65mm SE0702 + Gemfan 1219 build guide.

TreeTopper 75 Analog — Full Record Provisional

Uncalibrated sensor, uncontrolled runs. Every current and mAh number in this section is the raw OSD reading. It has not been corrected, because there is nothing to correct it against — this build has never been flown to a full discharge, so it has no anchor and no correction factor. The two 65mm builds read 20% cold and 25% hot out of the box; assume an error of that order here until it is measured. Both runs were also uncontrolled: undercharged starts, mismatched cutoffs, and a freestyle throttle profile that does not repeat. The two runs are therefore not a pack A/B comparison, and this build feeds no calculator estimate.

Run 1 started at 4.10 V against a 4.35 V LiHV full charge and pulled roughly 60% of rated capacity; run 2 started at 4.25 V, ran to a deeper cutoff, and pulled roughly 68%. Neither is a discharge curve. Durations and weights carry no sensor caveat and stand on their own. Raw record: treetopper75-analog-0802-32500k.json. Pending: current sensor calibration against a full-discharge anchor, matched-condition A/B (same charge state, same cutoff, same profile), n=3 per pack, a controlled cruise run, rest-voltage logging.

Methodology

Whoop-scale current sensors are not trustworthy out of the box — one 65mm build read 20% cold, the other 25% hot. The policy is that every current and mAh figure gets corrected against a full-discharge anchor before it is published.

One build on this page does not meet that bar yet. The 75mm TreeTopper has never been flown to a full discharge, so it has no anchor, no correction factor, and no uncertainty figure. The choice there is publish it raw or withhold it, and withholding it is the worse of the two — a missing build teaches nothing, while a flagged one still carries usable durations and weights. So it is published raw: every uncorrected figure is marked Provisional on the row, rendered in amber with a "raw, uncorrected" marker on the cell, and spelled out in full under the build's own record. Provisional builds are excluded from cross-build comparisons and never feed a calculator estimate. They lose the flag when the sensor is calibrated and the runs are re-flown controlled — not before.

When your inputs in the calculator match one of the calibrated builds, it swaps its estimate for the measured number. Provisional builds are not wired in — the 75mm TreeTopper changes no estimate. Everything on this page is reproducible from the raw JSON in data/bench/. More builds get added as they cross the bench.